A Funeral For a Kunoichi
by Whispering to the Winds
Summary: Tenten has died in the line of duty, leaving a mystery and Neji behind. Tenten/Neji


A/N- I know the bold thing is kinda strange, but it had to be done that way to seperate the sections. I don't normally do that! And yes, it is for a purpose!

**It was a rainy day, perfect for the funeral of one of Konoha's kunoichi. One of the best of the village. Her teammates from the genin days attended, other old genin teams as well, and so did many of her classmates from being a student. The Hokage was in attendance, and many ANBU, jounin, chunin, and genin that had come in contact with her were there as well.**

**The sodden group walked across the drenched ground towards the rock of ninja's who died in service to the hidden village. The kunoichi had been buried in a small service with only her family in attendance. Now they came with all the other ninjas to the ceremonial carving of the name on the stone by the Hokage of the village, and the sayings of eulogies by her close friends.**

**Her family stood separated from the crowd as they watched the Hokage use the jutsu passed from the leader of this village to the next leader, her mother sobbing and her father standing like a rock- emotionless and non responsive. Her little sister looked sad, but she didn't cry.**

**She looked exactly like her older sister as a ten year old; stoic, but not unfeeling. A carbon copy of what had been, down to the buns in her hair.**

**As the ceremony ended, everyone started to mill around, sharing stories informally. Neji walked up to the stone where her name had been inscribed and touched the still warm stone. Someone walked up behind him.**

"**I'm really sorry Neji. Really, I am." Said a downcast Hokage.**

"**It's fine, Naruto. She knew the risks." Said the Hyuga stiffly. A hand touched his shoulder, and the other man left. Neji was left with the stone. No one went up to him, trying to comfort him. They all knew that he had been closest with the girl.**

**A small and slipped itself under his on the stone. He looked down at the small figure next to him. A carbon copy of what he had lost. **

**The tiny girl spoke in a soft voice. "She described you to me so many times, I felt like I knew you. But I don't, not really."**

"**She talked about me?" Saddened, Neji looked at the top of the girl's head.**

**The girl, still looking at the stone nodded, and then looked up at him with a watery smile. "She told me to give this to you." She passed him a scroll. "Here."**

**She walked away slowly as Neji watched her leave. He stared at the scroll and opened it slowly. Two written notes lay inside, along with a jutsu. He read the note labeled '1'.**

**Neji-**

**If my sister had given this to you, it means I've died.**

**I love you.**

**This will explain everything. Someothers will be needed to explain. Sakura, Ino, Lee, Guy. Naruto should know as well because he is the Hokage.**

**-Tenten**

**He gathered the group and they started the jutsu.**

_She walks to school with the lunch she packed  
Nobody knows what she's holding back_

A memory flashed through the groups minds, coming from Lee- Tenten coming to practice with a large lunch for the four of them to share, with a sad expression on her face.

"What is wrong, Dearest Weapon Mistress?" came Lee's strident voice.

A bit of a fake laugh came out. "Oh, nothing."

"Then, let us start the FIRES OF YOUTH!" shouted Guy-sensei.

Lee's memory faded out as Neji's continued from that point. The boy asked quietly as the pair watched both spandex clad men spar "What's wrong?"

His companion glanced at him and then back to the fight. She seemed about to tell him something, then changed her mind. "I didn't sleep well."

He looked at her surprised. "That is a terrible lie."

She glared at him. He was surprised- she never glared at him. "It's the truth." He was about to argue, but she changed the subject. "Let's spar, before we get roped into fighting one of them."

He followed her lead onto the field and the memory ended.

"**I never thought she was really hiding something." Said Neji quietly. "I let it pass and thought she would say something more if she was really bothered."**

_Wearing the same dress she wore yesterday  
She hides the bruises with the linen and lace, oh_

A memory of Sakura's floated around. They were in the hospital, a year after they all passed the chunin exams, Tenten getting shots on her arm. Sakura sidled up next to the shorter brunette with a syringe, glancing at the bandages hidden usually by clothing and the bruises surrounding them. "Hey, Tenten, where'd you get all those bruises?"

The other girl stiffened, looked herself over, then laughed slightly. "Neji, Lee, Guy, and I practiced really hard. I never noticed how many there were!"

Ino walked in and took one look. "Wow! How do you deal with so many? You must be numb to pain or something!"

"Probably." Agreed the brunette. Sakura asked if she could heal them since she was at the hospital. The weapons mistress declined, looking uneasy. "I don't think so. What if I go all soft? Then I won't be able to keep up with the boys anymore."

Both Sakura and Ino nodded. It made perfect sense at the time; they knew how hard their friend worked to keep up with her old genin team. Sakura changed the subject. "On a lighter note…"

The memory receded.

"**She didn't want me to heal them because then we would have known something was wrong. But even now, I wouldn't have been able to tell anything was wrong until I saw other memories. She hid it so perfectly. I still don't know why she was so hurt." Sakura wondered aloud.**

_The teacher wonders but he doesn't ask  
It's hard to see the pain behind the mask_

With a hand tightening on the scroll, Guy swore quietly and let a memory out. In the training fields, she and Guy cleaned up the field, watching Neji and Lee spare on the far side as the sun set over the tops of the trees. They were genin. The kunoichi winced as she bent to grab a kunai and covertly touched her ribs.

The group could hear Guy's thinking as he stood to watch the girl. _No one hit her in her chest at all today. Nor yesterday or any time this week that I can remember. Has she been hurt outside of practice?_

The girl noticed her teacher's attention. "Guy-sensei, is something wrong?"

He shook his head, disregarding the stray thoughts. _She would say if something bad would happen, wouldn't she?_

"**I should have asked." The man said sadly**

_Bearing the burden of a secret storm  
Sometimes she wishes she was never born_

A small hand touched the gathered ones and a new memory came. It was a bedroom filled with nothing personal and the weapons mistress stood at the window, looking out, as a fourteen year old. Neji, Lee, and Sakura recognized it as her room. Everyone wondered at why it seemed that the room didn't fit the girl, and a new memory over took this one.

A younger form of the dead kunoichi proudly put on her new headband as a younger version of her watched. Both were grinning foolishly at the mirror. "It looks so pretty, Onii-san!"

The older girl frowned. "Not pretty. Tough. Strong."

"Does this mean we can do what we want with our rooms?" To the group watching the memory, it seemed unrelated, but to the two they were observing, it clearly held relevance.

"Not yet. Someday, when I am stronger, though."

The memory switched back to the original one, where the brunette stood in her window as her sister looked in the door. "What are you doing, Onii-san?"

The other girl turned and held out her hand. The smaller girl walked over and took it and both looked out the window. They could see a nest of birds and a mother pushing a dead one out of the nest. "I wonder…"

The tiny girl looked at her older sister and asked, "What do you wonder?"

"What would it be like, if neither of us were here?" the little sister looked out the window again at the birds.

"I don't know."

_Through the wind and the rain she stands hard as a stone  
In a world that she can't rise above_

Quickly, the memory shifted without leaving time for talk. They were watching a little girl looking out a knothole with tears streaming down her face. In the complete darkness, the only light came from the holes in the wooden wall. As one, the group was sucked into the girl's body and saw what she saw.

Tenten, being hit by her father.

The memory switched. Now she stood in front of the tiny girl in the kitchen, as she was hit and struck by him and his friends. As she winced, she whispered to the cowering girl behind her. "Run for the streets. I'll get you when they leave."

With one last look at the drunken men, the little sister left her older sister to face them alone.

The memory changed again. Now they were in a playground with the tiny, shivering, sobbing girl, in the middle of the night. A blanket fell onto her shoulders. "Onii-san?"

A tired voice came from the darkness above the scared child. "Are you alright? Did they hurt you?"

"No-o-o."

"Good." They watched as the elder girl limped over to a tree and helped the smaller one climb up it. Together, they sat on a high branch as the little girl got out bandages from a hiding place. The taller girl looked out over the city from their perch as the other started a healing jutsu. She turned to her tiny clone and gave her a tender smile. "What would I do without a sister who can heal at such a young age?"

The smaller one giggled. "You'd bleed to death."

The listening audience winced as they heard the two joke about this. The smaller one went on. "How do you do it?" she asked worriedly. "He will kill you someday."

The other looked back over the village. "Not until you are safe and away from him."

"But you will never be safe then!"

"I don't expect to be." The memory faded out.

_But her dreams give her wings and she flies to a place  
Where she's loved concrete angel_

Again, the memory started too quickly for any talk. They were in a tree, watching the brunette girl run over to her old team as a jounin. They couldn't hear what was said, but they could tell she was happy to be here.

She didn't show the team any unhappiness, only joy at being there with them. The watcher, her little sister, was happy that she had found a place where her protector was safe and happy. The tiny girl jumped and skipped off.

**No one said anything. The tiny hand slipped off, and they heard light footsteps walk away.**

Somebody cries in the middle of the night  
The neighbors hear but they turn out the light

The next memory started, coming from Neji. He and the kunoichi were walking home when they heard a scream coming from a house. It was dark and Neji couldn't tell which house, but he felt the girl next to him stiffen. He got ready to run over, but she put a hand on his shoulder. "I'll go. You go home. You are tired."

He argued. "So are you."

She pushed him away. "Go."

She turned and ran off in the direction of the scream. He watched as a bedroom light turned on and he could see the girl open a door and race in.

The screaming continued.

The light turned off.

"**Those pieces of dung!" hissed Naruto. "They knew, they knew, and they didn't do anything."**

**Neji closed his eyes. He whispered. "Neither did I."**

**They all looked at him in sympathy. Sakura offered up, "You didn't know."**

_A fragile soul caught in the hands of fate  
When morning comes it will be too late_

Lee winced and sent out the memory. They were in a stone room, a torture chamber. Lee and the brunette were chained to the wall. A man entered.

The memory skipped ahead. Now they could see a beat up twosome on the wall, bleeding. One pair of lungs faltered, then slowed. The boy looked up and hissed frantically. "No, Tenten! You must stay alive! Don't you have something to live for? Think of that! Live!"

A weak voice chuckled. "Take care of my sister, Lee. She will explain about…"

A last rattling breath, and only a husk of what had been remained.

"**We didn't find out until too late." He whispered.**

"**She didn't want us to know." Whispered Ino.**

_Through the wind and the rain she stands hard as a stone_  
_In a world that she can't rise above_  
_But her dreams give her wings and she flies to a place_  
_Where she's loved concrete angel_

_A statue stands in a shaded place_  
_An angel girl with an upturned face_  
_A name is written on a polished rock_  
_A broken heart that the world forgot_

**They all looked at the stone next to them. Guy touched his student's name.**

_Through the wind and the rain she stands hard as a stone  
In a world that she can't rise above  
But her dreams give her wings and she flies to a place  
Where she's loved concrete angel_

AN .3?playid=284


End file.
